Savannah morning news. [volume] (Savannah) 1868-1887, 1887-02-14
PHOTOGR APHY.
Immense Increase i'm the Demand
TOR Dry Plates.


tor Dry Plates.
NEW YORK. Feb. PA single house in
this city sod $500, 900 worth OF dry photo
graphic plates last year, ana the demand
for them continues to increase. Every
shop engaged in the manufacture OF
cameras and other articles included in
| Photographic outfits is crowded with
orders. One factory in Green Point is
just completing a single order for 25O
detective cameras" that is. cameras
that have all the outward appearance OF
fine vaiise and may be carried about
and even used without attracting atten-
ton. These cost the maker $40 each,
without the lenses, and are fitted with
| improved devices tor finding the
object to be photographed, bringing
it into focus, regulating the time
Of exposure, etc. The sale OF
this kind OF instruments is no longer con-
fined to those who can use them to secure
pictures to be reproduced in newspapers,
| but IS extending to all classes of amateur
| photographers. The demand for cameras
to be made to order tor wealthy people
who amuse themselves by making sun
! pictures, with fittings or decorations to
| suit the IDEAS or tastes of the customers.
| Is alone greater to-day than the entire
sales OF instruments to professional pho
tographers were five years ago, and the
plumber Of the latter IS
| The dealers who supply chemicals
and other articles used IN photography
| have also been scarcely able to keep up
with the increasing demand for their
| goods.
| All this has been brought about by
simple invention In photography-the
dry plate. Before that came into use
each glass plate upon which negative
was to be made had to be prepared at the
time when it was TO be used, and it re-
| quired special facilities and much skill
and practice to secure the best results.
Outdoor photography, therefore, involved
| the carrying about OF variety of solu-
tons and baths and a portable dark
| room, requiring a wagon fitted up for
that purpose, and the handling or the
chemicals made dsagreeable stains
upon the hands and clothing.
| These we're almost insurmOuntable
the use of the dry plate greatly
slmplites the process of making sun pic
| lures. The operator may now purchase
| his plates all ready for use, for a moder-
| ate price, by the dozen or hundred; ne
| may pack them away, keep them for
months, and carry them to the other side
of the earth. After exposure they may
| bC h6pb lOI ulOuJu5 lOuEGT, anu IL III IL mol
| convenient for the operator to develop
them himself almost any professional
| photographer will do it for him for few
cents each. And as the pleasures OF
amateur photography are more ana more
appreciated, and as light and convenient
! apparatus Is offered, the number of those
| who practice it increases.
Amateur photography has caused no
injury to the business OF the professional
nh n utNbn tko
| the dry plate has. Before its introduce
ton it required skill and practice 10 pre-
pare plate for negative properly, and
pictures were good or poor CHIEFLY be-
| cause the makers were successful In pre-
| pairing good plates or not, and some never
could make good portraits because they
never could make good plates. Butnow,
! when photographers, as a rule, purchase
| their plates all ready for use, skill as lost
much OF the advantage it formerly pos
sessed, and the business has suffered
greatly through the increased COMPETE
tion there Is in 1t, and the better class OF
| photographers have been anxiOusly seek
Ing for some new branch which shall be
| less crowded, Some of the more enter
prising men IN the business think that
they have discovered it in the bromide
process OF making so called life-size
"crayon" portraits.
have been made by means of solar
camera upon dry paper that was sensi-
tlZed by the use OF chloride salts. The pro-
cess was a prolonged one, requiring the
direct rays of the sun, which could only be
obtained in clear weather, and by q hell
oscope that would cause the tense
through which the light passed to follow
the course of the sun i'll the heavens.
These conditions limited the number of
ninfurpQ that QnnlH no nrO1I1 nd Of
course, augmented the expense OF them.
But by the new process of making toe
enlarged pictures upon paper prepared
with bromide salts and exposed while
wet, reflected sunlight, or even an cleo
trio light may be used, and the print
is produced in a few minutes. in
this wav not only is there a large amount
of labor saved, but the work
can be carried on in all kinds OF weather,
and even in room in which the direct
rays of the sun never penetrate. The pic
lures produced in this way are soft,
strongly resembling craYon drawings,
and when touched up q little by young
women employed for that purpose at very
small pay are accepted as such by the Or
binary customer. One photographer in
Brooklyn has developed this business to
very large and very profitable proper
tions. To the purchaser OF snowy
frame for $40 he gives "crayon" portrait
made by the process described ABOVE,
either from card photograph or from a
sitting, and he sells hundreds of pictures
every week, sending them TO all parts Of
the United States.
The latest improvement in the process
OF making "crayOns" by the bromide
process is camera in which coal oil
lamp, such as Is used in a magic lantern,
may be employed Instead OF an electric
light. Experiments with an instrument
OF this kind have already produced salts
factory results, ana promise TO simplify
the making and cheaper the price of the
class Of pictures l have described.
L